NASA Launches Jupiter Satellite Europa Probe... to Investigate 'Possibility of Life'

NASA's unmanned probe, Europa Clipper, has been launched to investigate whether life can live on Jupiter's moon Europa.

The Europa Clipper' left Earth aboard SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket at 12:06 p.m. EDT on the 14th at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.The mission of the spacecraft

is to examine closely whether Europa has the conditions suitable for living things.

The probe will travel about 2.9 billion kilometers in the five-and-a-half years since leaving Earth, enter Jupiter's orbit in April 2030 and then fly close around Europa to investigate.

Europa, Jupiter's moon, is the sixth largest moon in the solar system, with an equatorial diameter of 3,100km and 90% of the moon's size.

Scientists estimate that a salinity sea exists under a layer of ice 15-25 kilometers above the surface of Europa, which may have an ideal environment for life.